Harassed, Assaulted then Dismissed

Tia was training to be a manager at the electronics chain, Circuit City. It should have been a step forward for her. Instead, she endured what no employee should face: two months of sexual harassment by her boss.

The harassment not only included inappropriate comments but even worse, her boss exposed his genitals to her. Tia reported these events to another manager who did nothing.

One day, in an event captured on video, the boss grabbed Tia’s hand and paraded her around the store as she tried to escape. Only after that did the store finally fire the boss.

Tia filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the store that had allowed the boss to continue his harassment for so long. Despite the video evidence and despite an Equal Opportunity Employment Commission finding in her favor, Tia’s case was thrown out of court because of a clause buried in her employment agreement.

It’s called forced arbitration and it is far too common in workplace agreements these days. It means that no matter the facts, any dispute between Tia and Circuit City would be sent to arbitration where it would be decided by an individual whose fee was being paid by Circuit City.

Tia simply had no choice. She went to arbitration, but during that process Circuit City went out of business and Tia’s case was completely dropped.